Chapter Text
Jackie blinked the sleep out of his eyes as his phone loudly rang on the bedside table. He reached a hand out blindly, smacking the table until he found the offending piece of technology.
“What” he spat into the phone, annoyed at being woken up in the middle of the night.
“This is a prepaid call from the Night City Jail, City Center”.
That made him sit up in his bed, double checking the phone number with squinted eyes before putting the phone back up to his ear. He hadn’t the faintest idea who would be calling him from jail, maybe his older brother…but he had the Valentino’s to turn to before trying to call home.
“Jackie?” a quiet voice came through the phone, soft enough that he almost missed it.
“Verity?” he asked, eyebrows knitting together as he realized who was on the other end of the phone. “What happened?”.
A loud sigh crackled the connection between the two of them for a moment before she spoke. “Sorry for waking you…I didn’t have anyone else to call. Please don’t be mad”. She sounded worried, sure, she was in jail, but he didn’t like hearing her worried that he was going to be mad.
“Never, chica . You know me. I’m a night owl anyways. What’s the situation” he asked, trying to sound smooth and casual to get her to relax a bit. He knew she didn’t have the connections that he did, the friends and family to keep him going. And they were friends, it just worried him a bit that he was the only person she had to call. He’d need to get her to make some more friends next time they were out.
She rushed, voice sounding like she was cupping her hand around the receiver so the cops wouldn’t hear her. “Cops are trying to call my mom. She can’t find out cause then she’ll tell Marcus, or worse, they’ll see she isn’t right in the head anymore. They’ll take me from her. I can’t end up a ward of the state…I know what happens to those kids and I just can’t end up in one of those homes or go t-”
“Shh shhh” he cut her off before she started to spiral, knowing how she could get sometimes. “It’s okay, Ver. That ain't happenin. I’m already on my way,'' he said, swinging his feet out of bed and got to collecting whatever clothes he had on the floor to wear.
“Really?” she said, sounding surprised. “Oh..uh, yeah. That’d be great. I’m at the City Center jail, I’ll pay you back the bail, don’t worry”.
“I’m not worried about that. You’ll just owe me one” he said, brushing off the idea of holding a debt over her head. She was like, what, fourteen? Odds are he’d owe her one soon enough anyways. “What exactly happened?” he asked again, not letting her weasel her way out of that one.
Jack could hear someone in the room with her, a muted voice, too far from the phone to hear what he was saying. “This jackass over here is rushing me off the phone, but long story short…some assholes just can’t handle losing a game of pool” she grumbled, though there was a hint of a smile in her voice at that.
He could hear a scuffle over the phone, some rustling and an annoyed noise from Verity. “This is Officer Stints speaking. Come pick up your little hustling friend before her parents get notified” the cop grumbled into the phone before the line went dead. Jackie couldn’t help but laugh at the idea of Verity probably staring the cop down while she called him a jackass. Kid was smart but damn, did that mouth get away from her sometimes.
He snuck out of his house with practiced ease, waiting till he was a ways away from the house before ringing up his brother. If he wanted to make it there before Verity got sold out to her parents he needed a ride.
—
Jackie was no stranger to picking up people from police stations, his brothers had put him up to that task once they figured he was old enough. The station was quiet except for some chatter here and there between night shift staff. Turns out for a city that never sleeps, Night City jails do have a quiet time.
He slid up to the front desk and flashed a cheesy grin at the receptionist, hoping to start off on the right foot. “Good evening…” his eyes flashed to her name tag “Ramirez, though I suppose it is morning now” he said, his smile cracking a little when the woman just stared blankly at him. “Uhm, I’m here to pick up my friend” he added awkwardly, running a nervous hand across the back of his neck.
“Name?”
“Verity Varner” he said, taking a peek over the woman’s shoulder to see if he could catch a peek through the door behind her.
“Good, they're getting sick of her back there” the woman grumbled, her long nails clacking across the screen as she punched some information into the computer beside her. “She’ll be up shortly. That’ll be 300 eurodollars” she said, giving him a stern look when he balked at the amount. Sure, he had it, but that was a lot.
He quickly transferred the eddies over, knowing he was going to have to bust his ass off in order to make that up. No doubt Verity will tag along to help. The receptionist motioned for him to sit down in one of two stiff chairs by the door. Jackie was ready to get comfortable when the back door was shoved open, Verity being pushed ahead of a cop who looked overwhelmingly annoyed.
“You were struggling! I was just trying to help” she was saying, trying to defend herself from something but her argument was cut through by her inability to keep her laughter out of her voice.
The cop had her by the upper arm, walking her practically on her tiptoes with her hands still cuffed behind her, glaring angrily ahead and staunchly refusing to acknowledge her.
Jackie quickly stood up, Verity’s eyes lighting up when she saw him, whatever her argument was with the cop forgotten. She opened her mouth to speak but the cop cut her off by pushing her a step or two forward to remove the cuffs, muttering something under his breath.
She quickly stepped closer to Jackie, putting space between her and the cop, rubbing at her sore wrists. Despite her mouthing off at the cops, she seemed like she was in one piece.
“I don’t want to see you back here anytime soon” the cop growled, clearly the one and only Officier Stints from the phone earlier.
“But what if you need help with next week's edition?” Verity blurted, almost looking surprised at what came out of her mouth. She sounded innocent enough but Stints’ eyes widened in anger. Time to step in.
“Thanks for taking care of her for me. I’m sure we won’t be back soon” he said, casually wrapping an arm around Verity’s shoulders to quickly steer her out of the station before she started an actual fight with a cop. “Bye Ramirez!” he called, over his shoulder, knowing he’d definitely be back here again and it was best to make friends.
Once they left the building, Verity started laughing. It sounded like it was nervous laughter mixed with relief. Jackie couldn’t help but join in. All her big talk in there but he was sure she was just trying to act like an adult. Throw her weight around a bit but she was still the nervous kid on the inside.
“You good?” Jackie asked, pushing her shoulder playfully as her nervous laughter subsided.
She shoved him back, but it wasn’t as hard as she normally did. “Yeah…it wasn’t what I expected” she said, still rubbing nervously at her wrists.
“It ain’t like the holovids, V. Plus, you’re just a kid. They go easy on us. You turn sixteen though, then you get treated like an adult” he explained, knowing they were headed towards that, his birthday coming up in a few months.
He could tell she was still anxious, the nerves wearing off to that weird feeling after hours of being stressed out. “And, look” he nudged her again, getting her to refocus her attention on him. “I got you out. Cause I always got your back. Always . Don’t forget that. I’m glad you called me” he said, walking up to his brother’s car.
Verity frowned at the sight of the idling car, her nose scrunching up in annoyance. Good, she was back. “You didn’t need to get anyone else involved, Jack. I don’t have that kind of money to pay everyone back” she said quietly, probably already feeling guilty about waking him up on top of the bail money.
“Nah, chica . It's just mi hermano . Junior, don’t think you’ve met him yet. But we’re all family. And…” Jackie trailed, waggling his eyebrows, waiting for her to finish his sentence.
“And family takes care of each other” she mumbled, Jackie grinning at her annoyance. He was wearing her down, maybe one day she’d actually believe him.
“And family takes care of each other…Plus he owed me one for the same favor. Good?” he asked, arching a brow at her.
After a slight pause she nodded and he pulled open the door for her. The duo slid into the backseat, Jackie giving his brother a thump on the shoulder as he sat down behind him.
“ Buenas noches, hermanita ” Jackie’s older brother greeted, flashing a very similar smile that Jackie wore on his own face. “Where am I taking ya?”.
“Vista del Rey. West side” Verity said, Jackie raising his brows at that. She frowned at him “What?” instantly turning defensive as they pulled away from the curb.
Jackie raised his hands in surrender “Nothing, nothing…just didn’t know where you lived, that’s all”. She squinted at him, judging his answer. Seemingly finding it worthy, she leaned back against the seat and turned to look out the window. She had always been cagey about where she was from, her family, her home life. He was used to getting his head bit off when he asked, though it wasn’t going to stop him from asking. One day she’ll open up more. And he’d be there waiting to hear it all.
They sat in comfortable silence, just the quiet hum of the radio station until Jackie piped up again, his curiosity overwhelming him.
“So what the hell was that all about? When I showed up, I mean”.
Verity’s brows scrunched together before realizing what he was asking . She laughed a little again. “Oh, Stints? He needed help with his crossword but I guess he didn’t want help with it”.
That got them all laughing, the absurdity of it all paired with the early hour had the whole car busting up for longer than it was actually funny. It was a fitting end to a bizarre night and the start of what could only be described as the most dynamic duo in Night City.